Vardis Vardinogiannis was a Greek billionaire oil and shipping businessman.
11 Facts About Vardis Vardinogiannis
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Vardis Vardinogiannis was the chairman and controlling shareholder of Motor Oil Hellas and Vegas Oil and Gas and involved in numerous other shipping and business interests.
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Vardis Vardinogiannis was born on 4 December 1933 in Episkopi, Rethymno, Crete, the son of a farmer family from Agios Ioannis, Sfakia who had moved to Episkopi in the early 20th century.
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Vardis Vardinogiannis was in elementary school during the Second World War when Crete was occupied by the Germans.
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Vardis Vardinogiannis was forcibly retired and exiled on a remote island for opposing the Greek junta that ruled from 1967 to 1974.
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Vardis Vardinogiannis joined his family's enterprise in the 1970s and helped it expand.
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The Vardis Vardinogiannis brothers owned the merchant ship Ioanna V which, in 1966, broke the United Nations-imposed and British-enforced embargo on Rhodesia by bringing in oil to the Portuguese Mozambique port of Beira, which was connected with landlocked Rhodesia by a pipeline.
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In 1961, Vardis Vardinogiannis married Marianna Bournaki and had five children, including Giannis Vardis Vardinogiannis.
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Vardis Vardinogiannis was the brother of shipping tycoon Yiorgos Vardinogiannis, known for being president of Panathinaikos FC.
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Vardis Vardinogiannis was saved while inside his highly armored car.
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Vardis Vardinogiannis died in Athens on 12 November 2024, at the age of 90.